Obama plans to announce the Bernanke appointment at 9 a.m. ET on Martha's Vineyard, ratifying a choice that had been mostly expected and will likely cheer the markets. "White House officials said that Mr. Obama had effectively decided four or five weeks ago that he wanted Mr. Bernanke to continue, and that he formally discussed the job with him last week at a meeting with the Fed chairman in the White House," the New York Times writes, adding that Obama did not offer the job to anyone else, though other names like Larry Summers, Janet Yellen and Roger Ferguson were rumored. "A move by Mr. Obama to install his own person at the Fed might have have rattled markets and unsettled the foreign investors," reports the Wall Street Journal, which also quotes Rahm Emanuel saying Obama credits Bernanke with "pulling the economy back from the brink of depression." (Note that it's Emanuel delivering the message once again, rather than Summers or Tim Geithner or Robert Gibbs, but that's another story.)

Stability seems to be the word of the day. "You can certainly argue that Bernanke made mistakes, both in failing to spot the housing bubble and in his handling of the Wall Street collapse last autumn," the Economist judges, while "the standard argument for retaining Bernanke is that he avoided a repeat of the Great Depression. ... Perhaps the more practical argument is that, with sentiment still fragile, replacing Bernanke might have damaged the fledgling recovery." Bernanke's reappointment has already been blessed by Chris Dodd, and so the Fed chairman should have a relatively smooth confirmation aside from the complaints of some critics.
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* ACT PREEMPTIVELY TO HALT THE EXTRAJUDICIAL MUTLI-AGENCY COORDINATED ACTION PROGRAM THAT IS DESTROYING LIVES AND LIVELIHOODS OF UNJUSTLY TARGETED AMERICANS.

* CLEAN HOUSE IN SOME POWERFUL QUARTERS OF THE BUREAUCRACY -- SECURITY DIRECTORATES, THE PENTAGON, INTEL AGENCIES -- WHERE THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S AGENDA AND POTUS' PERSONAL STANDING ARE BEING SABOTAGED.

* BAN COVERT, WARRANTLESS USE OF GPS DEVICES AND CELLPHONES TO TRACK, STALK AND HARASS MANY THOUSANDS OF UNJUSTLY "TARGETED" CITIZENS AND FAMILIES -- THE "M.O." OF A FEDERAL-LOCAL VIGILANTE GESTAPO FRONTED BY COMMUNITY POLICING UNITS.

* RESTORE CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS BY ENDING WARRANTLESS ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMS BEING USED AS A PRETEXT TO HARASS -- PSYCHOLOGICALLY AND PHYSICALLY -- AND TO CENSOR THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS OF MANY THOUSANDS OF UNJUSTLY TARGETED CITIZENS.

I'll just say Amen to everything that yeswiican said (and tell him/her that name is nice because YES, WE CAN -- and should!)

Posted by: GrannyAnnie | August 25, 2009 11:09 AM

Good for the Obama family that they are finally getting a week off. As for the president, well, sometimes forcing yourself to not work is more stressful than taking care of a few things....

Bernanke is a good guy--I don't think its his fault we didn't catch the housing bubble, and no one would have listened to him anyway. That one's on Greenspan. Good for Barack to be nonpartisan and reappoint.

As for the DOJ stuff, let Holder do his job. 'Nuff said.

Posted by: yeswiican | August 25, 2009 9:47 AM

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